You Found Me
by jamiel33t
Summary: "I don't care if he kills me; I'd rather die a thousand times than live without you now."
1. Chapter 1

***Hey guys, this is my first Sons fiction, I hope you enjoy it! And reviews make me happy!***

Taking a deep breath, Raelen Gardner stepped towards the Teller-Morrow garage that was her desired destination. Her steps were unsure and hesitant just like her thoughts. How could she approach this man and tell him what she had to? Would he laugh in her face? Would he even remember her mother? From what she had been told about him, she wouldn't be at all surprised if he just popped a bullet in her head. Steadying herself she approached a young man who was working on a car.

"Uh, hi." She said to him and he turned to look at her and gave her a nod.

"I'll be with you in just a sec ma'am." He was polite considering his job, Raelen noted and then chastised herself – she had no right to a snob; she might have a degree, but she was unemployed and this guy clearly wasn't. "What can I help you with?" He smiled. He was adorable in a "little brother" way. She resisted the urge to pinch his cheeks – it might be slightly patronising considering that he was likely to be older than she was herself. Unfortunately for him, although he had facial hair, he was still baby-faced to a certain extent. He was cute as a button.

"I was wondering if Clarence Morrow was around to speak with?" She asked with her soft, whispery voice. That voice had been the bane of her life, but a gift also. People always made fun of her for sounding like Hooks from Police Academy.

"No, sorry ma'am, he isn't here yet." She knew his eyes were giving her the "once-over", but she was twenty-two years old, it wasn't like she couldn't deal with it.

"Are you expecting him soon?" The young man checked his watch.

"He should be like an hour or so. I can let him know you came around or you can wait for him, I'll make you a coffee or whatever you like." Raelen smiled at how polite this young man was.

"I think I'll just come back another time. Thank you for your help."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay and wait?" He insisted.

"No, really. I'll take a rain check on that coffee though." His face brightened as she said that.

"Hey, who should I tell Clay was here?"

"Just tell him if he wants to know, I'll be at 45 Sycamore Avenue."

"You're not even going to tell me your name?"

"Rae. What's yours?"

"It's Half-Sa… Kip." He held his hand out and Raelen shook it, noticing that he had gotten a little bit of motor oil on her hand.

"Aw shit I'm sorry. And I'm sorry that I just cursed in front of a lady, my mom would kick my butt." He looked appropriately abashed and she smiled.

"Don't worry about it. Either of them." She wiped her hand on the tissue that he handed to her. "I better get going. Pass on my message if you don't mind, Kip."

"I will Rae." She waved to him as she walked across the garage parking lot.

* * *

"Clay, shit man, you fuck some of the hottest bitches." Half-Sack ran up to Clay as soon as he got to the garage.

"What is this shit Prospect?" Clay continued to walk to the club with Half-Sack tagging along behind him.

"Some girl was here looking for you earlier, and damn she was fine."

"I haven't screwed any whores recently."

"She didn't look like a whore. She looked pretty classy actually."

"Then I definitely know I didn't fuck her. Did you have a point?" Clay stopped at the door of the club and turned to face Half-Sack.

"Yeah she was looking for you. Said you could find her at 45 Sycamore."

"Did she say anything else?"

"She said her name was Rae."

"I don't know any Raes."

"Well, that's what she said. If you're not going to go there then you mind if I do? She is smokin'."

"Tell you what, I'll check her out, see what she wants, and if she's alright, then you can do whatever the hell you like. If that one little nut of yours can keep up with such a "smoking" chick."

"Oh I am more than up to that Clay."

"Yeah I'll bet you are." Clay snorted and went inside for the club meeting.

* * *

Raelen was moving a heavy box from the living room to the bedroom when she heard the bikes approaching. Her mom had told her that Clarence would always be on his bike, so she just knew in her gut that it was him. She heard more than one bike which meant he had brought others with him. She supposed she understood that – you couldn't be in a business like what Clarence Morrow was in and not be precautious. She dropped the box on the kitchen counter and took a quick look in the large mirror in the living room. Her wavy red hair was down and curled just above her shoulders. Her pale face was free of make-up as she thought her skin was one of her best assets and didn't want to ruin it with products. Her skin was whiter than white – a trait inherited from her mother. Her red hair was also from her mother, as well as the blue eyes. The only difference between Raelen and her mother was that her mother had been a very skinny, tall woman, whereas Raelen was only 5'1" and the very definition of voluptuous. She had what her grandmother described as "birthing hips", a small waist and a plentiful chest. As a teenager Raelen hated her body, as in your average American high school, any girl bigger than a size four was considered to be fat, and Raelen had always been a size ten. Nowadays Raelen loved her body, it made her feel like a real woman, and she knew combined with her pale skin and red hair she could be considered quite striking. This didn't mean she had much confidence in herself, but she knew her look wasn't "ten a penny" as her mother had said. She stood and waited for the doorbell to ring, and about one minute later it did. Hesitantly she approached the front door and opened it slightly. There were three men standing there. The one at the front was surely Clarence Morrow. He was much taller than her, with silver/grey hair on his head and face. He had the lines of age on his face and a tough demeanour. The man to his left was a little shorter than Clarence with black curly hair and black facial hair. He was probably just a little younger than Clarence, and the way in which he eyed her made her feel uncomfortable. The third man was the one that captured her interest the most, even through her nervousness. He was also a little shorter than Clarence but he was definitely Hispanic, and had a little dark brown short Mohawk, and his head was tattooed on either side. She took the time to note that he was very handsome but then directed her attention back to Clarence.

"Clarence Morrow?" She asked.

"That I am princess. I hear you swung by my garage today looking for me. Here I am, what can I do for you?"

"Uh, would you like to come in?"

"Sure, you don't mind if my buddies do too, do you?" He indicated the two men standing behind him.

"Not at all." She stood back and they walked into the house. "Sorry, I just moved in last week." She pointed at all of the boxes apologetically.

"Not a problem." The Hispanic man smiled at her and she actually felt herself blush. Seriously Raelen, blushing?

"Did you buy this place or something? I know it belonged to old Mrs Gardner before she passed." Clarence looked around then directed his attention at Raelen.

"I actually inherited it from her."

"You a relative? I haven't seen you in Charming before."

"I'm her granddaughter."

"Far as I know, Mrs Gardner only had the one kid, and she left Charming a long time ago."

"She did." Raelen agreed. Clarence could see she wasn't going to say anything else so he continued the conversation.

"So you needed something from me?"

"I, uh, it's kind of private." Her eyes swept over the other two men.

"Anything you got to say to me can be said in front of my brothers."

"Okay." She was really nervous now. Not only did she have to tell Clarence, but she also had to say it in front of his sleazy friend and his handsome friend. God, this was worse than she imagined it being. "I'm Haley Gardner's daughter." She hoped he would put two and two together.

"Haley Gardner? Are you serious?" Clarence looked shocked, and his sleazy friend also looked surprised.

"Yes."

"Are you trying to tell me what I think you're telling me?"

"I'm your daughter too." Even for Raelen's whispery voice, that was quiet, but all three men picked up on it.

"Holy shit." Clarence rubbed his face with his hand. "Tig, Juice, leave us alone would you?"

"Sure thing Clay." The Hispanic man turned to leave and the black haired man followed him. When they were outside, Clarence turned back to Raelen.

"Your mom told me she'd lost the baby. That's why she moved away, she said she didn't want to be reminded of what had happened."

"I think she wanted to get away from this town for other reasons."

"Yeah, we didn't have the best of relationships, but shit, lying about losing a baby, I could kill her!" He was enraged.

"You'll need to dig her up first." Raelen looked at the ground.

"What? Haley's dead?"

"Yes. She died two years ago."

"How did she…?"

"Some guy shot her because she wouldn't give him her bag." A tear slid down Raelen's face as she thought about it. She tried to never think about it if she could avoid it.

"Shit." After a couple of minutes of silence Clarence said: "So what do you want from me?"

"What?"

"You came to Charming, I assume you want something from me."

"No, I don't want anything. Grandma died and left this house to me, and I needed a new start. I just thought you should know that you had a daughter living in the same town as you."

"Where do we go from here? I ain't got no kids. I got a stepson Jax, but he was already an adult before I married his mom. I don't know what to do here."

"I don't either. But I guess you have two choices, you can either try to get to know me, or you can walk out of that door and pretend this didn't happen. I wouldn't judge you if you did, it wouldn't make any difference to my life since you've never been in it."

"That wasn't my fault!"

"I know. But you can go."

"I don't want to do that."

"Then you can get to know me."

"I do want that. Let me take tonight to talk to my wife about this. We'll have dinner tomorrow night. I'll invite Jax too. I'll send someone to pick you up about eight."

"Okay, I look forward to it."

"You look just like her." He commented as he stopped at the front door without looking up.

"I know."

"Tomorrow, then." He nodded and left. As soon as the door closed Raelen collapsed onto the sofa. That had drained more emotional energy than she had anticipated. She felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders but now she had no energy. Unable to face any more unpacking she pulled the throw from the sofa over herself and closed her eyes, willing sleep to come.

***I hope you enjoyed that! More to come soon! In case any were wondering, I had a young Christina Hendricks in mind when I was describing Raelen***


	2. Chapter 2

***Thank you sooo much for the kind reviews, I hope you enjoy this chapter!***

Raelen must have changed her outfit around ten times… after she retrieved some nice clothes from the bags she had them in. Her bedroom now resembled a clothes explosion. She eventually decided on a navy blue knee-length pencil skirt and a low-cut red and white striped vest top, with low red heels. Her style was very rockabilly, but she didn't have the stomach for the tattoos. If you presented her with a needle she would probably pass out. She decided to let her hair dry naturally after her shower, so it was very wavy and some fell in front of her face. She put a little navy blue bow in her hair to the side. As for make-up, since she didn't bother with it, she just put a little bit of mascara on and some tinted lip gloss. At quarter to eight her doorbell rang and she made sure her outfit looked as nice as it was going to. She opened the door to find the handsome man from last night standing there. He let out a low whistle when he seen her.

"You going for dinner with your old man or out on the town?" He asked.

"Oh no is it okay? I don't want to be overdressed." Raelen fretted and he laughed.

"You look great." He nodded.

"Thanks." She smiled. "Come in."

"Thanks." He stepped in past her. Even though she had heels on he was still at least seven inches taller than her. "So I guess we didn't get to talk much last night. You're Clay's kid huh?"

"I am. Raelen Gardner." She held her hand out and he shook it.

"Jean Carlos Ortiz. You can call me Juice."

"Juice?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Ah don't ask."

"Okay, Juice. Nice to meet you."

"You dropped a hell of a bombshell on Clay last night."

"I didn't want to do it like that. I didn't want to just come out and say it, but when I think about it, I don't see how I could have done it any other way. I was scared to come here because of it. But I needed the new start, and my grandma had left me the house, so it seemed like a good idea."

"I think you might have almost given Clay a heart attack, but it's a good thing you being here. I think it'll work out for you."

"You're very optimistic."

"Ah well, I try not to let anything get me down, you should give it a go too."

"I wish I had your enthusiasm Juice."

"Oh you will, I rub off on people."

"If you do that without permission you could get into a lot of trouble." They both laughed.

"You ready for this?" He asked as he pointed to the door. Raelen took a deep breath.

"I don't know. I left my first dinner with new father etiquette book at home." Juice laughed and Raelen smiled nervously.

"It's not so bad. Try not to think of him as your new dad, and more like a new friend."

"You're very wise Juice."

"Ah, not really." He smiled. "You good to go?"

"Yeah sure, just let me grab my bag." She walked up the hallway to her bedroom where she had left her small red bag, oblivious to Juice checking her out. She came back out and he was looking at the pictures on the table.

"This your mom?" He held up a picture of a fifteen-year-old Raelen and an older woman who looked just like her. They were standing next to water of some variety, and how they were dressed and the colour of the sky suggested the weather had not been so good that day.

"Yes it is. That was Madison Park in Seattle. We lived right next to it."

"Looks like a nice place to grow up."

"It was." She agreed. "Where did you grow up?"

"Right here in Charming."

"Were you born here?"

"No I was born in Anaheim, my parents were from Puerto Rico. We moved to Charming when I was like two or something. There's certainly no nice scenery down here like in Seattle."

"Yeah Seattle was cool to grow up in. I'm more of a city girl, I'll really need to adjust to this whole small-town setting."

"You're not one of these girls that can't live without Starbucks and designer clothes stores are you?" He teased.

"I think I'll live." She laughed. "Shall we go?"

"Sure." Raelen opened the door and Juice went outside and she locked it.

"Wait, you're not on a bike are you?"

"No, I don't think Clay would want his daughter getting quite so up close and personal with one of Samcro."

"Samcro?"

"Ah, I'll let him tell you about that."

"Oh, okay." Juice opened the door of a black van and Raelen tried to get in as gracefully as she could but was hindered by her tight pencil skirt.

"Here." Juice held his hand out for her to lean on as she stepped up.

"Thank you." She leaned on his hand and was able to get in without too much of a struggle. He closed the door behind her and got into the drivers seat.

"You still nervous?" Juice asked as he was driving.

"You can tell?"

"You're shaking like a leaf over there."

"I feel sick."

"Need me to pull over?"

"No I'll be okay. Tell me about Clay's wife… and his stepson too."

"Well Gemma's great. She's a tough cookie, so she might give you a hard time at first. If you just give her as good as you get, she'll like you. And Jax is awesome. He's a great guy, you'll get on with him fine. He's just separated from his wife at the moment, so it's not an ideal time for him."

"That's sad." Raelen said.

"Yeah. He's a stand up guy though."

"I just hope they like me."

"I don't think anyone who's ever met you could possibly dislike you."

"Oh, thanks Juice." Raelen smiled a wide, award-winning smile at him and he looked moderately uncomfortable, presumably about what he had said.

"You're welcome Raelen."

"Call me Rae." She insisted.

"Okay, Rae. Pretty unusual name you've got."

"My mom was a fan of everything unusual. She and my step dad were like into loads of weird stuff like history of the occult. I think I'm named after like a 14th century witch." She rolled her eyes and Juice laughed.

"It's interesting though." He pulled the car to a stop outside a nice one-storey house.

"This is it?" She asked.

"Yep." He saw her chewing her lip. "Hey you'll be fine." He reached over to touch her hand and received an electric shock from her.

"Oh sorry!" She blushed.

"That's okay." He laughed and got out of the car to open the passenger door for her again. He held his hand out and she took it to get down from the van, and was pleased there was no shock this time.

"Thanks for driving me here Juice."

"Yeah no problem. I'll see you around Rae."

"You will, bye." She waved as he got back into the van. She approached the door and rang the doorbell. She hadn't heard the van drive away yet and she looked around to see Juice still sitting there. He must be waiting for her to get inside, which to be honest, was more than a little touching. The door opened to reveal a tall man with blonde longish hair and blonde facial hair wearing baggy jeans, a white t-shirt and his bikers cut.

"Hi." He said.

"Hi, I'm, uh, I'm Raelen."

"Aw shit you're Raelen? I'm Jax, good to meet you." He held his hand out and she shook it. "Come on in." He stood back and she walked past him. The house was very neat and ordered, which was not what she was expecting of a house that Clarence Morrow lived in.

"Clay, mom, Raelen's here!" Jax shouted and a tall woman with long dark hair highlighted with a few blonde spots came out of the kitchen drying her hands on a towel.

"Clay's just in the bathroom." She told them. "So you're Clay's daughter?"

"Uh, yes ma'am." Raelen nodded.

"Gemma Morrow." She held her hand out and Raelen shook it. She knew the woman was sizing her up in the way women do when confronted with another woman who was a possible threat. Raelen knew that Gemma might perceive her to be a threat; maybe because Clarence might give her more attention or whatever, but Raelen didn't think Gemma had anything to worry about.

"Raelen Gardner."

"Well I hope you're hungry Raelen." Gemma turned and walked over to the large dining table behind the stairs of her house.

"Come on, my mom's got the works on tonight – a full on roast." Jax led her towards the table.

"Oh no."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't eat meat." Raelen looked really apologetic.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure there's plenty of food here to keep you going that isn't meat."

"Oh but it's really insulting coming to someone's house and not eating what they make you." Raelen fretted and Jax laughed.

"Chill, it's fine." He patted her shoulder. "Mom, Raelen doesn't eat meat, so don't put any on her plate."

"You want me to make you something else?" Gemma asked Raelen.

"No, don't be silly, I'm fine honestly."

"I've got plenty of vegetables here, cold pastas and the like, you sure that'll be enough?"

"Honestly Gemma, that's great." Raelen flashed the same award-winning smile at Gemma that she had at Juice. Clay came towards them.

"Hi Raelen."

"Hi Clarence."

"Call me Clay."

"Okay, you can call me Rae." Clay stood and stared at her for a minute or so, and Raelen stared back at him. Jax smiled at his mom who gave him a small smile back.

"Come on guys, let's eat, I'm starving!" Jax broke the silence and they all sat down. Clay sat at the head of the table with Gemma to his right, and with Raelen then Jax to his left.

"This food is really good Gemma, thank you." Raelen said after a few minutes of eating.

"You're welcome Raelen." Raelen could tell Gemma was really trying to be nice to her, but that it wasn't her natural way to be with new people, especially new women.

"So Rae, what did you do up in Seattle?" Jax asked her.

"Well last year I finished my music degree at the University of Washington, and I just finished my teaching course a few weeks before I moved here."

"I'm assuming you wanna be a music teacher then?"

"Yeah, that's the goal." She smiled at Jax. He was every bit as great as Juice had claimed. He was very easy to be around, and made you feel very at ease in his company. She could almost ignore the x-ray stares she was getting from Gemma or the silence of her father at the head of the table.

"I ain't never been any good at music. You play like a lot of instruments?"

"Yeah actually, I play quite a few. My mom put a guitar in my hands before I could walk I think." She and Jax both laughed. At least one member of her "new family" acted like they wanted to know her.

* * *

That evening Clay insisted on driving her home in Gemma's black Mercedes.

"You don't have to drive me home, it's not that far." Raelen protested.

"You can't walk home at this time of night." Gemma said to her.

"Oh, alright. Thank you Gemma, the food was great."

"I know for next time to make a vegetarian option."

"You don't have to do that."

"Of course I do. It was nice to meet you Raelen."

"Yeah, good to meet you. I think I'll enjoy having a little sister." Jax laughed and gave her a hug.

"Great to meet you to Jax." She smiled at him. She followed Clay out of the door and got into the passenger seat of the car. They drove in silence for a minute or so before Raelen cracked.

"Look Clay, I know this awkward, and there's no standard etiquette for this situation, but I mean, can you tell me what you're thinking? I mean, I can't tell if you're happy to have gained a daughter or not."

"Do you want me to be honest?"

"Please."

"I don't know how I feel about it. I think I'm happy about it, but I'm still in shock. I want to get to know you, I want to know everything about your life, and I want to be a part of it, but it's going to take time."

"Okay, I can appreciate that." Raelen nodded. "I just want you to know that I don't expect anything from you. I've got a feeling you're wondering when I'm going to ask you for something, but I'm not going to. I'm self-sufficient. I didn't come here looking for a daddy to buy me things or do stuff for me, I don't need that."

"I want to be the sort of dad you can depend on though."

"That would be great, but I don't expect it. I'm not a little girl, I'm twenty-two years old, so I don't expect to be taken care of or anything."

"I appreciate that."

"Good. What is Samcro?"

"Who told you about that?"

"Juice."

"Hmmph." He looked annoyed.

"Don't be mad at him, he's really nice."

"I'll bet he was."

"Not like that." Raelen laughed.

"Samcro is the brotherhood I am part of. It's the Sons of Anarchy. We own that garage you were at earlier."

"You're a gang though aren't you?"

"Sort of. What did your mom tell you about us?"

"You're involved in guns and protection rackets, and things like that."

"Rae, I feel like I can trust you, but I can't let you in the inner circle of things until we get to know each other better, do you accept that?"

"Sure, of course." She did accept it, but she didn't have to like it. Clay pulled up outside of her new home.

"I think Jax took a little shine to you tonight."

"I'm glad, he seems great."

"Yeah he's a great kid. He'll make a good older brother to you."

"I'll be the best little sister I can be." She laughed.

"I'm busy tomorrow, but I'll call round the day after if you like?"

"That would be great." Raelen smiled at him.

"Well, you take care." He said awkwardly.

"I will, bye Clay." She got out of the car and went into her house. Well, if it hadn't been for Jax that dinner would have been the most awkward thing in the world. She knew for sure that Gemma wasn't done sizing her up, Clay's feelings about her were muddled, and Jax had fully accepted her. She hoped she could integrate into the family setting because she had always wanted a large family, and she knew the rest of this Samcro were going to be part of that family too. She especially hoped Juice would be part of her life from now on too. She laughed at herself for thinking that. As if he would be interested in polite, soft-spoken Raelen. He probably liked his girls as tattooed, cigar smoking sex goddesses. Raelen was none of these things. Oh well, she should just concentrate on getting to know her father and finding a music-related job.

***For anyone wondering, I've set this before the first season of Sons (: ***


	3. Chapter 3

***Again guys, hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm working on number 4 right now! I hope I'll get some nice reviews that will inspire me for number 5 ^_^ ***

One Month Later

"Kip!" Raelen shouted at Half Sack as she drove her smoking car into Teller-Morrow garage and then got out. Half Sack came up to the car laughing at Raelen's pouting face.

"Rae, you're not supposed to set cars on fire. That's illegal." He teased her and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Can you fix it?"

"I'll leave this one for Juice actually, he knows more about exhausts than I do."

"When will he be in?"

"He'll be here soon I guess. You want a drink?"

"Please. A double, of anything." She sighed.

"Bad day?" He asked as Raelen followed him into the bar.

"It's not particularly bad; it's just a build up of several things."

"Like what?"

"Well firstly I woke up this morning to find that my bathroom faucet is leaking. Then I tripped over my new rug and fell flat on my face. And there's still no word from any jobs I applied for. Then these two creepy guys tried to sleaze on me while I was doing my grocery shopping. And this car is just the icing on the cake. Sorry for ranting, you always listen to me complain." She gave Half Sack an apologetic smile. She sat down on a bar stool and he handed her a Jack Daniels and coke.

"That's alright, I wasn't really listening." He winked.

"Ass."

"Bitch." Raelen threw a piece of ice from her drink at him.

"So you look like crap, what were you doing before I drove up?"

"Just having a few rounds with the punch bag."

"I forgot you're boxer extraordinaire. Think you could take me?" Raelen raised her fists in a pretend boxing stance.

"With those weak fists you couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag."

"Hey, I throw one of these fists of fury at you and you are going down."

"That's what she said." They both laughed. "No seriously, show me those fists again." Raelen held her fists up and Half Sack grabbed one. "Pathetic. You need to learn how to close your fist properly for a punch."

"Why don't you teach me Kip?" Raelen laughed.

"I will. Down that drink and follow me."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, why not? It's not like you've got anything else to do today, being that you're unemployed and all."

"Are you trying to make me mad so that I try to hit you anyway?" Raelen asked shrewdly with one eyebrow raised.

"Maybe a little. Come on, don't be a wuss."

"Well, I suppose I am dressed for it." She indicated her tight black jeans, grey Metallica t-shirt, and low-top all black Converse. Her dark red hair was tied back in a high ponytail.

"Exactly, so come on!" He walked out from behind the bar and towards the door. Raelen rolled her eyes and downed the drink. She followed Half Sack out to the boxing ring. It was very quiet at Teller-Morrow, but it was like six o'clock in the evening. She ran and jumped on Half Sack's back as he was approaching the ring.

"Ah ha! Does this mean I win already?"

"Not a chance baby." He held her legs so he was carrying her and she had her arms around his neck. He turned and dropped her onto the side of the ring. She climbed inside the ring.

"Okay Kip, I promise to go easy on you." She said as he climbed into the ring.

"Please, you'll go home crying."

"You wish bitch." She winked at him. She absolutely loved this guy – in a purely platonic fashion but she did. He was her best friend in Charming. Between him and Jax, she really felt at home in this town. She thought she could be really good friends with Juice, and she had been in his company a few times since being here and he was always nice, but only when they were alone. In front of the others he was always very standoffish, which bothered Raelen. It was probably for the best though; she didn't need any romantic hassles right now. No matter how cute he was. Hmmph.

"Okay first you need to work on that stance. Give me your boxing stance." Raelen did it. "No no. You punch with your right?"

"Yeah."

"Then left foot forward. Your left hand comes up in front of your face as your guard. Now because your left foot is forward, you can swing your body into a right punch, got it?"

"I think so."

They spent nearly two hours practicing punches with each other, and Raelen actually got the hang of it pretty easily. Then they just started play wrestling and seeing who could pin who.

"No way I totally pinned you for three seconds!" Half Sack protested.

"You're such a liar, that wasn't even two seconds!"

"Oh you're going down." Half Sack aimed to spear her playfully and they both fell onto the floor. He pinned both of her arms down and she couldn't move.

"What the fuck?" They heard a voice in the warehouse and sat up to see Juice standing there.

"Aw hey Juice." Half Sack greeted him but Juice didn't say anything. Instead he was looking at Raelen with the straightest of faces on.

"Hi Juice." She said and looked into his eyes and felt a wriggle somewhere circa her bellybutton.

"Aw I see, practicing some moves are we? Well you've got to have some kind of excuse to touch her I suppose, right Half Sack?" And with that statement he stormed out of the warehouse.

"What the hell was that about?" Raelen asked with a confused look on her face.

"I think he likes you."

"Likes me? He's got a funny way of showing it." Half Sack got up and helped Raelen up.

"He must like you."

"He hardly speaks to me. Everyone else goes out of their way to speak to me – Chibs, Bobby, Tig, Happy, everyone."

"Don't take it personally. I'm sure he's got his reasons."

"Oh well at least I still have you." She put her arm around him as they walked back to the bar, and he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, you got me wench." He squeezed her tight and they went into the bar. They downed a few more drinks and Raelen decided to call it a night.

"Will you ask Juice to have a look at my car please?" She asked Half Sack.

"Sure thing. I'll call you tomorrow to let you know what's happening."

"Thanks Kip. Thanks for the boxing lesson too."

"You practice that now, next time I see you I want a punch that'll actually leave a mark."

"You bet." She smiled and left the bar. She was looking in her bag for her cell phone and almost bumped into Juice who was smoking a cigarette.

"Oh hey." She gave him a weak smile.

"Hey." He looked at the ground. "Sorry about earlier."

"That's okay." She assured him. "You doing alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Okay… wait a minute, what happened to your face?" As she looked closer he had a scrape and a bruise on his left cheek.

"Injuries in the line of duty."

"Have you cleaned it?" She touched his cheek next to the injury and he closed his eyes for a couple of seconds but then grabbed her hand softly and moved it away from his face.

"It's fine." He dropped his cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out.

"Okay." Raelen frowned. Had she done something to him? It really felt that way. He made her feel like she had done something personal to him. "Well I'll see you later Juice."

"Bye." He nodded. His head snapped up from looking at the ground as Raelen turned to walk away. "Shit get down!" He threw himself on top of her and they fell onto the ground and Raelen heard a really loud CRACK just above them. The door of the bar burst open and Half Sack ran out.

"Half Sack, someone just shot at us, can you see anyone?" Half Sack held up a gun and kept his guard up but he couldn't see anyone. Then they all heard a car's tyres screech as it drove away.

"Rae, are you alright?" Juice got onto his knees but Raelen didn't move. She had both of her hands over her face and he gently moved them. There was blood trickling from a cut above her left eyebrow and down her face. "Fuck, that was my fault. Are you okay?"

"I… I think so."

"Come on, try to sit up." He helped her sit up and Half Sack came over to kneel behind her. Juice held her face in both his hands and looked at the cut above her eyebrow. "That's going to need a stitch or two." He stood up and he and Half Sack helped Raelen to her feet. She swayed a little bit and Juice put his arm around her waist to steady her.

"I'll go get the van." Half Sack ran off to get the van.

"Rae, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little bit dizzy."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Better than getting shot, right?"

"That's true." Half Sack brought the van around and helped Juice put Raelen into the backseat.

"I'll drive her. You tell Clay what happened." Juice told Half Sack.

"I should go with her."

"Look I know she's your friend, but I'll take care of her, I promise."

"Okay, I'll be at the hospital soon." Juice drove off to the hospital.

Half an hour later Raelen was sitting up on the side of a hospital bed. It was a good sign that she was able to hold herself up. Juice was standing next to her while the doctor was examining her head.

"I'm going to need to stitch this." The doctor told her.

"Do you really need to stitch it?" Raelen looked nervous.

"I can put a couple of butterfly stitches on it, but you'll be left with a bigger scar than if we did proper stitches."

"Can you just put the butterfly ones on?"

"Rae, don't you want to get it stitched right up?" Juice asked her.

"I'm scared of needles. Getting stitches is just beyond me."

"I'll stay right here with you. You've got nothing to be afraid of." He looked at her and took her hand in his and squeezed it.

"Okay." She said in a voice that was barely even a whisper. The doctor left a nurse to inject Raelen's head, at which point she squeezed both of Juice's hands so tightly that her nails were cutting into him, but he didn't mind.

"You're doing so good Rae." He assured her and rubbed the back of her hands with his thumbs. "Almost done now." There were a couple of tears running down Raelen's face.

"That's you done now, you did great." The nurse smiled at her. "Just wait there for a few minutes please." And she left.

"You were amazing." Juice smiled at her and wiped the tears from her face with his thumbs. Raelen started to blush as she realised she was crying about that in front of Juice.

"I'm so embarrassed." She bowed her head and got off of the bed, standing in front of Juice.

"Hey, it's okay." He pulled her close, the right side of her head leaning against his chest. She pulled back a little bit.

"Thank you Juice. For knocking me out of the way." She looked into his eyes.

"No problem." He didn't even realise he was lowering his head until his face was an inch away from Raelen's, who had stood on her toes a bit too. Their faces were so close they could feel each other's breath, but the hospital door opened to reveal Clay standing with Jax, Half Sack and Gemma. They pulled apart as soon as they heard the door open, but they both looked guilty as hell.

"Rae, are you alright?" Clay strode over to her, and in a very uncharacteristic move, he hugged her tightly. Raelen looked at Juice over Clay's shoulder and he was staring at her.

"I'll be outside boss." He said to Clay and left the hospital room. After hugs and questions about how she was feeling from all present the nurse returned to say she could go home. Juice wasn't anywhere to be seen as she was leaving the hospital, and Gemma drove her to her and Clay's house. Raelen was too exhausted to even argue when they insisted that she stay with them that night. As she was curled up on the bed in the guest room, the main thing on her mind was not almost being shot, but the fact that she and Juice had almost kissed. Her imagination ran away with her thinking about if they hadn't been interrupted…

***Did you enjoy it? Let me know!***


	4. Chapter 4

***This is the most overdue chapter in the history of overdue chapters, sorry! Hope you enjoy it!***

"Juice, you pissed anyone off recently?" Clay asked Juice as the Sons were all sitting around the table the night after the shooting. They were all there – Tig, Chibs, Piney, Juice, Half Sack, Jax, and Clay. The meeting was to determine who had tried to shoot either Juice or Raelen.

"Not any more than usual." Juice shrugged. He continued picking at the beer mat in front of him. He was beyond conflicted at the moment. He knew his first loyalty was to his club, but he had never found anything worth giving it up for until now. He knew he would have to give it up, Clay would never approve. Hell, Clay might even shoot him. Shit, he was getting ahead of himself, he didn't even know her that well.

"And you definitely didn't see anyone?" Jax asked him.

"I told you, I was talking to Raelen and when she went to leave I heard rustling in the bushes, and I saw a gun coming out of the bushes. Then I threw her to the ground, the guy shot the wall behind me, and then we heard a car speeding away, but we didn't see it so he must have run away."

"Okay so let's line up some possibilities." Clay put both his hands on the table. "It would be most likely that the Mayans or the Nords did this. We'll need to gather some intel, see if any of their gang members were seen roundabout Teller-Morrow in the past 48 hours. Juice, you get into their computer and you find out whatever you can. Jax, Chibs, you look into the Nords. Tig and I will look into the Mayans. Bobby, do a little bit of digging on the One-Niners just in case, but I don't think we've had any recent beef with them, so that should be a wild goose chase."

"What do you want me to do Clay?" Kip asked.

"Whatever it is you usually do about here."

Juice stood outside Raelen's house, berating himself. He should not have come here, but yet he couldn't stay away. Taking a deep breath he rang the doorbell. He waited a few minutes but no one answered the door. He knocked and rang the doorbell again but still no one answered. He stood and listened and thought he heard the sound of music inside. Hesitantly he tried the handle of the door, and found that it was open. He stepped inside Raelen's house.

"Rae? Are you here?" Now that he was inside he could definitely hear the sound of music coming from one of her spare rooms. He opened the door and saw Raelen sitting on a stool with a cello between her bare legs. She was wearing a pair of denim hot pants and a black vest top. She had her eyes closed and she was playing a deep, mournful melody. He stood and waited for her to finish, all the while eyeing up that perfect hourglass figure, and the dark red hair that was tied up into a bun. Her legs were so pale and smooth he really felt he had to exercise some restraint not to go over and touch and kiss them.

"That was amazing." He said when she had finished and she just about jumped off of the stool.

"Jesus Christ Juice, you almost gave me a heart attack!" She got off of the stool and stood with one hand on her hip and the other holding the cello upright.

"Sorry." He laughed. "I rang your doorbell twice, and the door was open so I just…"

"Came in & scared the crap out of me?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah sorry about that."

"Well now you're here you can do something for me."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"In my bedroom I was trying to build a new desk for my computer, but the instructions are missing. Help?" She pouted.

"Sure. Lead on." He followed her out of the room. "How's your head?"

"It feels okay today, I don't think it's that bad."

"Sorry about that, again."

"Don't worry about it, better a cut on my head than a bullet wound, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Raelen opened her bedroom door and Juice let out a low whistle. "Sorry were you building a desk in here or did a few thousand trees explode?"

"Shut up, I guess I got a little excited and took everything out of the box."

"Typical woman."

"Hey I'm usually okay at building things by myself. But I generally need to have instructions."

"Women." Juice rolled his eyes and Raelen playfully smacked his arm. Juice took his biker's cut off and began separating the pieces of wood into some form of order (Raelen had no idea where he was getting his logic from).

"Can I get you a drink?"

"Sure."

"Beer?"

"You have beer?" Juice asked.

"Of course I have beer, why so surprised?"

"You seem like more of a wine lady."

"Oh so because I'm a lady I can't drink beer?" She teased. "I could drink you under the table any day of the week Juice."

"I'll need to take you up on that challenge one time."

"You should. But not today, I have a desk that needs building. You start and I'll go get beers."

"Yes ma'am." He watched Raelen leave the room and shook his head. She just HAD to be wearing those tiny shorts, and they just HAD to be building this desk in her bedroom right next to her bed, and they just HAD to be drinking beer. If Raelen had been any other girl Juice knew within the hour he would have her on that bed, minus those shorts. But not with Raelen, no matter how much he wanted it. For all he knew she would laugh in his face if he made a move on her.

"Here you go." Raelen handed him a can of beer.

"Thanks Rae. Let's get started."

"What can I do?"

"Any screws or other little accessory pieces, keep them separate."

"Okay." Raelen set about separating all the small pieces and whilst Juice was checking two pieces together to see if they fit, he decided to ask her something that was nagging at his brain.

"Rae?"

"Yeah?" She didn't look around.

"We were talking today, and we can't really think who would try to kill one of us so openly. Have you got any enemies in this area? Or in general maybe?"

"Why would I have any enemies?" She turned around and looked at him suspiciously.

"I was just wondering, we need to look at every angle, you know."

"Well, I don't, okay?" She said sternly and turned back to what she was doing.

"Okay, cool." He didn't believe her for a second, she was definitely hiding something. He didn't want to push the subject though, he was enjoying her company.

An hour later there stood a perfectly steady desk. Raelen knew if she had attempted to build it the slightest tap would have made the whole thing fall apart.

"Should we test it?" Raelen asked.

"How?"

"Like should we sit on it?"

"You planning on sitting on it a lot?" He laughed.

"Maybe. If this falls apart I may kill you." Raelen perched on the desk tentatively, putting some weight on, and when it didn't collapse beneath her, she put her full weight on it.

"See? I built you an awesome desk."

"Thank you good sir."

"You're very welcome."

"And thank you for last night too, you totally saved me." They were looking into each other's eyes; Juice felt like he could get lost in hers.

"Anytime."

"Maybe I'll need to hire you to follow me around to fend off any other assassination attempts."

"Sounds like a good way to spend a day in my opinion." They continued to look at each other for a few more seconds in silence before Raelen looked away. "I better get going. You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine." She nodded. Juice put his cut back on and Raelen walked him to the door. "That was fun."

"Yeah it was. If you have anything else that needs building or fixing just let me know."

"I'm holding you to that." She laughed. They stood awkwardly for a second before Juice extended his hand and Raelen shook it.

"I'll see you later Rae."

"Bye Juice." She watched him walk down the path to his bike and closed the door. Juice was sitting outside on his bike berating himself.

'I shook her hand. Her hand! You suck Juice' he shook his head and started his bike and drove away.


End file.
